


Cold Feet

by AtlanticSalmonRoll



Category: Little Nightmares (Video Game)
Genre: ALL ABOARD THE ANGST TRAIN, Canon Compliant, Depressing, Gen, Is it a sequel or a prequel, My First Work in This Fandom, One Shot, Six's POV, Spoliers, these kids need hugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:28:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29557050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AtlanticSalmonRoll/pseuds/AtlanticSalmonRoll
Summary: SPOILERS FOR LITTLE NIGHTMARES 2A brief look at what might have been going on in Six's head throughout her adventures with Mono.
Relationships: Mono & Six (Little Nightmares)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 91





	Cold Feet

Six felt like she was dreaming.

She did not feel the splintering wood of the floor, or the cold chill of the room she was trapped in. All that mattered was the endless, looping music from the box that she wound constantly. It's soft melody lulled her, making the aches and pains of the waking world fade like a bad dream.

It was all pretend, she knew. The real world; the one of chases, hunger, cold and fear was still out there and still waiting. But in here the music was nice and nothing was hunting her right this second. Some disaster would happen soon, and she would have to deal with it and survive as she always had. But not right now, not in this moment. There was no need to stop dreaming, not yet. Just a little more time for her and the music.

The axe splintering through the door woke Six up fast.

* * *

This was the reality that Six was familiar with.

The dirt was cold and wet under her bare feet as she fled through the night, the Hunter’s most recent shot still ringing in her ears.

He would fire again soon and she needed to find cover.

There! A box. She flung herself behind it and a moment later it was obliterated into a flurry of flying splinters.

Back to moving, back to running.

Yes. The whole routine would be drearily familiar if it wasn’t always so horrifying. Another nightmare was trying to kill her and it would not stop until she had run far enough or killed it. Reality was rarely anything else.

There was something new this time though. One small change.

She was not alone. This time, there was a boy.

* * *

The boy’s name was Mono and sometimes Six felt like time with him was time spent dreaming.

At the moment, they were floating across a body of water on an old rotting door. This, in of itself, was hardly a dream come true. But she was safe for the moment, and that certainly was good.

With room to breathe again, Six contemplated her new companion.

Mono could run too. Not away from her in fear, not running towards her to attack but _with_ her, keeping pace. She knew that he was made of the right stuff when he grabbed the shotgun and helped her to turn the tables on the Hunter and end _that_ little nightmare. Yes, Mono was useful and compliant and did not want to hurt her. Six could work with that.

The inevitable nightmares to come may be a little less frightening and just a little easier to survive with a companion like him.

She turned to her new friend and signalled with a hushed, _“Hey!”_

Mono cocked his head and responds with an equally quiet, _“Hi!”_

Six smiled ever so slightly and, even with his face covered by the paper bag he wore, she liked to think that he was smiling back. 

The floating sensation came to an abrupt halt when the door washed ashore on a cold beach next to a shadowed, warped city. More trouble, more chases, more nightmares. As he stepped off and onto the shore, Mono offered her his hand and she took it after only a moment’s hesitation.

Her feet were cold on the solid sand but Mono’s hand was warm and Six felt like she was still floating on that door.

* * *

The reality of having a companion was more troublesome than Six first thought it would be.

Mono was fixated on yet another crackling screen of one of the many televisions that littered the city.

They had come across several of these in their push through the school house, hospital and city. Each time, Mono had latched onto it as if hypnotised and then pulled himself in. Each time Six had flung herself after him and pulled him back as he drew closer and closer to a strange, locked door that leaked an eerie purple light.

Something about that door and the way it made Mono act made Six’s guts twist with anxiety. He was not himself around them, as if something else was pulling his strings. After each failed attempt to reach the door she had asked him way it was so important. His only response…

 _“It’s important.”_ Nothing more.

And here he was again, now passing into the screen and hurrying towards the door. Six hesitated, watching him. He had saved her from the Hunter and again from the Bullies. He was reliable. She would save him from this. She reached towards the screen herself, ready to pull him back out as she always had done.

But she had paused just a bit too long and Mono had been just a little more eager than the last time he had been on the other side of the screen.

Mono’s hands were on the latch.

The door swung open.

And something stepped out. Something tall and thin and sinister and _reaching_.

Mono was really, _really_ more trouble than he was worth.

* * *

What had Six been worried about? She could not remember. Her mind was foggy, filled with nothing but her dream and her music.

She was safe again. In a room, behind a closed door, locked away with a music box. All was well.

Where she had been before this she could not quite remember. It had all faded into the back of her skull. Dim memories of running and hiding; fear and friendship; cold feet and warm hands felt just out of reach. And Six wanted it to stay that way. This was peaceful; just her and the melody. The melancholic, frowning face of her abductor floated to the surface of her mind. Six shook her head and let it slip away. She did not want to think of the Thin Man and his sad, brown eyes. Whatever threat he represented before, now it seemed he just wanted to leave her here. That was fine.

Time blurred.

The music played.

Six became dimly aware that the room felt a little smaller than it had been when she was first put there. No matter. It felt cosier. And it was not like she needed to hide. Or had any reason to leave.

The handle wound round and round, encouraging the song to continue.

Six settled into a sitting position, her hands stretched around the music box as if cradling it.

A door creaked.

Tiny footsteps, almost inaudible over the music.

And then, an equally tiny _“Hey!”_

Six stared.

There was a boy. He was too small (or was she too big?), but he was familiar. A name came to her: Mono. He was a friend, she thought.

The boy jumped up and down, waving at her. He seemed agitated about something. Six could not imagine what. What an Earth could be the matter?

She shuffled forwards, feeling a lot more ponderous than she had been before. She placed her prize in front of him. _See_ , she wanted to say, _everything is fine_. _We have music. Safety._

The boy paused to contemplate what she offered. He paused for a long, long time as if struggling with some great decision. Six snorted. It wasn’t complicated. Just listen, relax and let yourself go.

Mono stopped his hesitation and then moved out of sight. Was he looking for a him-sized chair?

No.

Something was scraping against the floor. Mono moved towards her precious music box, dragging something behind him.

_What was he…?_

The mallet stuck the box like a thunderclap.

_No._

Six flung herself at him in rage, but he was already moving.

The next moments blurred as Six chased him, any thought of him as a friend evaporating under the heat of her anger.

There was a moment of clarity. The box was being struck again.

_NO._

_Stop hitting it._

More movement, more blind lunges.

Again the box was struck, it’s sides starting to buckle.

Now Six cringed in the corner of the room.

The music box was in front of her, still in one piece. Six reached for it, beginning to wrap it tenderly in her hands. Maybe it still worked?

 _“Hey!”_ Mono’s voice echoed and reverberated. Louder than the music box ever was. Six flinched away from her prize and cowered.

Mono approached the box, dragging an axe behind him.

She knew what was going to happen. What it would mean.

 _Don’t,_ she wanted to say. _Leave it alone_.

_Just don’t hit it._

Mono was next to the box now.

_Leave me here._

He hefted the axe over his shoulder.

_Don’t make me go back._

He took a deep breath.

_Please._

And brought the axe down.

_I don’t want to…_

* * *

Six woke up. She was small. Cold. Hungry. Scared.

Back in reality.

She pulled herself to her feet and glanced at Mono. He stood stock still, staring at her. She noticed for the first time that he was not wearing his mask. It did not make his face any easier to read, however as his eyes were lost in shadow.

They did not have time to contemplate each other for long; there was a rumbling sound as the walls bulged and cracked and something pulsing, red and fleshy forced its way into the room.

Back to moving, back to running. Six and Mono fled.

The floor was cold beneath her feet, except for the patches where the strange flesh forced its way out. That was painfully hot underfoot.

Now huge, staring eyes burst forth from the walls in front of her, their gaze locked over her shoulder. At Mono.

Six did not look back.

Her feet pounded across a narrow bridge that was already crumbling into the gaping abyss below. In front of her was the exit, a rectangle of static like the TV screens that Mono had used to start this whole mess.

The bridge, beneath her and in front of her, gave way. Six sped up. She leapt. She hung in the air, for a split second surrounded by nothing, and then landed, tumbling to safety on the other side.

Six finally turned to face what she had been running from.

Mono was still sprinting across the bridge even as it began to fall, now detached on either side. She moved to the edge and offered her hand, as she had done multiple time throughout their adventure.

Sure, this was his fault.

Sure, he had pulled her from her dream several times now.

But he had saved her life too.

He could still be useful…and she had missed him, alone in the Tower. 

Mono jumped and she caught him, his hand warm in her’s. The world slowed and stilled and, for the first time, her eyes met Mono’s.

His eyes were a sad, almost melancholic, brown. He was frowning in confusion, wondering why he was still dangling there and not being pulled to safety.

It was always hard to imagine the people the monsters who chased her had used to be. This time, she did not have to think too hard. Age Mono’s face a few decades, add some wrinkles here and a frown line there… you had the Thin Man. The impossibility of such a conclusion did not bother her. There were stranger things in this world than a person in two places at once.

This revelation sent more thoughts rushing through Six’s head in those vital few moments.

She thought of hushed conversations in brief moments of respite during their adventure.

She thought of his hand in hers, even when it wasn’t needed.

She thought of practically floating when he was close, even when her feet were on solid ground.

But then she thought of the monstrous eyes that were, even now, still locked on him.

She thought of how Mono had always been drawn to the static of those screens, no matter what she had said.

Mono looked more distressed now. Six’s arm was trembling from holding his weight.

It was time to decide.

This place needed him. Six did not.

She would not be safe whilst he was with her.

The tower would not let him go… but Six could.

…

It took less than a second for Mono’s form to be lost in the darkness below. Less than a second for his warmth to fade from her hand.

Six stood.

Her feet were cold. Her whole body felt numb.

Six turned.

There was a hot prickling in the corner of her eyes and something wet there. A feeling that was completely alien to her.

Six stepped forwards, pushing through the static.

And woke up.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, this is my first fic in the Little Nightmares universe, inspired by that very depressing ending. 
> 
> The thing that I like about blank slate protagonists is that you're not held to one interpretation of what's going on inside their head. I didn't want to completely demonise Six but still wanted to rationalise why she would drop Mono at the end and this was the result. Hope you enjoyed :)


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